FAQ

General

The European Excellence Awards were created to honour the most outstanding achievements of communications professionals in their field. In addition to this, the Awards also provide an excellent networking forum for all attendees and take a comprehensive look at communications achievements across Europe. The Awards are part of a global implementation of Excellence Awards, also rolled out in Asia-Pacific, North America, Latin America and Africa.

The Awards are firstly hosted by Communication Director, the magazine for corporate communications and public relations, which is distributed worldwide with special editions for Europe and Asia-Pacific. Secondly, the Awards are hosted by Quadriga, a Berlin-based knowledge hub of excellence in education, information, networking and business IT solutions.

Eligibility

The Excellence Awards are open to public relations, communications, brand building and reputation management professionals from companies, consultancies, associations, institutions, universities and NGOs whose work has displayed exceptional talent and ability.

Projects need to:

have either been carried out in Europe, e.g.with a European-based Client or partner-organization

or – if the Project was not carried out in Europe – created in Europe, e.g. with a European-based branch of your organization or agency.

Either the client or the implementing agency can apply. Should a client and it’s agency submit the same project; the submission will be considered as a joint application. In case of being shortlisted or winning, both the client and the agency are named.

Application

The early deadline for all applications is 13 September 2018 (midnight CET). Late deadline is 27 September 2018 (midnight CET). Final deadline is 4 October 2018 (midnight CET). Entries in the late deadline period, will be charged 90 Euro extra per entry. Entries in the final deadline period, will be charged 140 Euro extra per entry.

1. Application
For each application, information about the organisation and agency (if applicable) is requested. Submissions will exclusively be digital.

2. General information about the project or campaign
Each submitted entry should contain the following information:
• Summary of the project at a maximum length of 400 characters (including spaces) – Please note: This summary will be published when being shortlisted.
• Time frame of the project
• Budget (not a mandatory field, information will not be published)
• Number of employees who worked on the project

3. Project Description
A short description of max. 2,000 characters (including spaces) must be provided including the following:
• Initial situation leading to the project or campaign
• Objectives of the project
• Strategic considerations
• Details of the implementation
• Summary and measurement of results achieved
• A cover picture representing your project or campaign (maximum 1 MB)

4. Additional Picture
Include one picture that best represents your project. This picture will be published if your project is shortlisted.

5. Additional Material and Links
Accompanying materials are limited to three documents. Therefore, additional illustrative material should be carefully selected. Examples of possible illustrative documents are planning documents, press releases, images, PowerPoint presentations (no more than 10 slides) and movies. One document equates to one file. In addition, you can specify up to six links to websites, social media platforms, intranet sites, or online videos.

You can submit an entry into as many appropriate categories as you like, and you can (although you do not have to) tailor your supporting documents for each category, even if the campaign being entered is the same. You can easily duplicate your filled in submission online by using the “copy button” in the application process. Please note: the application fee is per project entered and per category.

Any project created or published between 1 September 2017 and 4 October 2018 may participate in the competition. A large part of the project must have taken place during that time frame, however, it is not necessary for the whole project to have been completely implemented in this period. Projects can also still be ongoing. If projects started earlier, a significant change must have been implemented within the time frame.

You can submit publications in a different language than English to support your application; however we ask that all application material (for example, the application forms and the project description) are submitted in English.

Yes, you are still able to enter the Awards, but financial data helps the Jury members assess the applications properly. All such information is treated with utmost confidentiality, and will never be published or released, should you decide to provide it.

The application fee applies per project entered and per category. The registration fee depends on the category in which you register your work.

Until 11.59 p.m. CET on 13 September 2018, the first application costs 290 Euro, and each additional application submitted costs 190 Euro (main categories Corporate Media and Tools + National and Regional Campaigns). Each application entered under the main categories Communications, Industries and Institutions, Accomplishment costs 390 Euro, no matter if it is the first or a further application. Between 14 September (00:01 a.m. CET) and 27 September (midnight CET), which is the late deadline registration period, applications come with an extra charge of 90 Euro each. Between 28 September (00:01 a.m. CET) and 4 October (midnight CET), which is the final deadline registration period, applications come with an extra charge of 140 Euro each.

Every application submitted after the early deadline, between September 14 (00:01 a.m. CET) and September 27 (midnight CET), will be charged a late fee of 90 Euro per project/category. Every application submitted after the late deadline, between September 28 (00:01 a.m. CET) and October 4 (midnight CET), will be charged a final fee of 140 Euro per project/category.

To finish your application(s), you’ll have to check out through our integrated shop-system. We kindly ask you to pay directly by credit card or to request an invoice. The invoice will automatically be sent to you via email. If paid by credit card, you’ll receive the payment confirmation via email.

Please consider: Invoices are payable immediately upon issue. Unpaid entries will be excluded from being shortlisted. In case your invoice needs to be changed, please contact the Awards team immediately (team@excellence-awards.com).

Judging Process

Strategy: The Jury will assess the strategic approach of each entry and the fit between the chosen strategy and the development of the project, as well as the integration of the various communication tools.

Innovation/ Creativity: The Jury will assess the question of whether new technical or strategic methods were pursued and evaluate the creativity of the project both in concept and implementation.

Implementation: The Jury will assess continuity and quality of communication or dialogue with the target group(s) as well as the management and internal organisation of the project.

Results and Efficiency: The Jury will consider the results of a project in relation to the stated targets, as well as the resources used towards achieving the results.

All material will remain confidential to the judges. Judges are not allowed to judge any entries submitted on behalf of their company. In case you are shortlisted, we will only publish the short general description of your projects as indicated in your application form.

Companies or organisations of Jury members may still enter the Awards competition. However, the Jury member is not allowed to take part in the judging process for any category into which their organisation / consultancy has submitted projects.